Ashes
by Redbird Redbird
Summary: It is said that two heroes carrying the Sharingan emerged from the Battle of the Kawabi Bridge. One of them became recipient of the most visited grave in Konoha’s cemetery. The other threw away his pocket watch and was never punctual again.
1. His Inheritance

**Summary:** It is said that two heroes carrying the Sharingan emerged from the the Battle of the Kawabi Bridge. One of them became recipient of the most visited grave in Konoha's cemetery. The other threw away his pocket watch and was never punctual again.  
**Rating: **T  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all of associated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

**ASHES  
Chapter I - Prologue (His Inheritance)**

**_Take what is not given to you and refuse what is willingly offered to earn your own strength and owe others nothing._**

Within the first-floor flat of a traditionally-architectured apartment, the body sat slumped at the kitchen table. The window over the kitchen sink was wide open, but to the occasional passersby it looked as if Konoha's White Wolf had returned from a long mission and had fallen asleep while eating a late dinner.

Of course, there were several things very wrong with this assumption. The first (and perhaps most important) was that there was no place setting at the table. No dishes had been piled up in the sink and there was an absence of the smell of stirfried beef and vegetables, the White Wolf's signature specialty dinner meal. He may have been an exceptional ninja, but he had never claimed to be an exceptional cook. He had married his wife when he was just nineteen years of age, and until her death had never needed to cook a domestic meal in his life.

Then there was the fact that Hatake Sukumo had not been on a mission in close to three weeks now; he had shut himself away in his own home when a failed excursion had turned the entirety of Konoha against him. Once revered and respected as one of the most powerful shinobi of his time, he had now been reduced to shutting himself away in his own home while the rest of Konoha blamed him its loss of power and military instability.

The Hokage would not see him. The Elders were conspiring against him. Even the friends whose lives he had placed above the importance of his last terrible mission had turned their backs on him. It had never occurred to Sakumo to be angry or bitter about the fact that one disagreeable choice had demolished his legendary reputation and revealed Konoha's unflinching thanklessness of his years of patronage. This village was his home, but it was also a military organization and residing within its walls made him another one of their tools. No, the most pressing question on Sakumo's mind had been how much longer it would be until people begun to hate his son for the mistakes that his _father _made.

Blood gathered in a dark pool below his wooden chair, looking slick and black in the muted glow of the half-moon gazing curiously into the flat's open window. Young Hatake Kakashi's first thought as he beheld his father hunched over the table in the moonlight like a weary passenger waiting for a train under the light of a street lamp was that he looked peaceful. Death had brought him the same expression that Sakumo used to wear when his mother was alive.

The White Wolf's tanto - the compact, slightly curved short sword which he carried with him on his back at all times - had been run cleanly through his chest. Kakashi had no doubt about it: his father's own expert hand had driven the blade into his body at his sternum. It was his careful precision that aimed the thrust of the blade upwards so as to pierce the heart.

The tanto was a family heirloom, and Kakashi would have to pull it out of the White Wolf's cold body and clean the sticky, congealed black mess off of the blade himself before being able to call it his own. Perhaps Sakumo had thought of this, but it evidently hadn't concerned him. Death was a part of the world that Kakashi was born into, and he would no doubt be pulling blades out of many more dead bodies in the course of his career.

With trepidation that he never knew he possessed, Kakashi edged into the kitchen and approached Sakumo's body. He removed the black leather glove from his right hand before extending it, gingerly grasping the handle of the tanto. Closing his dark, heavily-lidded eyes and taking a breath to steady himself, he ripped the blade from his father's body. It made a sickening sound that reminded Kakashi of removing his fist from a jarful of healing jelly. He jerked his head away from the sound, and the movement flung a hot tear from its track down his cheek into his father's blood-soaked lap.

Stumbling a little in his eagerness to leave, to get the hell _away_, Hatake Kakashi backed out of the kitchen and flew down the hallway, lunging for the door handle and slamming it shut behind him. Once he was out in the open, he broke into a run, leaping into the treetops and jumping from branch to branch. The village was a blur of silence beneath him. He was a Hidden Leaf Ninja, concealing himself from the rest of the world.

Briefly, it occurred to Kakashi that he did not know what he was doing or where he was going. He decided he could deal with logistics when the numbness finally wore off. Perhaps, Kakashi thought, it would never wear off. He would be okay with that.


	2. Just In Case

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all of associated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

**ASHES  
Chapter II - Just In Case**

BBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNG.

The sharp sound of the old-fashioned brass alarm clock cut through the quiet morning air. A flock of small birds are startled into irritated flight and an adolescent girl is startled into interrupting the steady flow of chakra that she was directing to her feet. She fell from the ceiling with a squeak of shock and a loud thud as she hit the hardwood, uttering high-pitched curses as she grasped her head and tucked it between her drawn-up knees.

"Damn it, Rin, would you turn that thing off already?" A voice from downstairs yelled over the noise.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! Sheesh, mom!" The girl shouted from between her knees. With one last toe-curling cringe from the impact of her fall, she stumbled to her feet and lunged over her bed at the alarm clock. It slipped off the table from her grasping fingers and fell to the floor with another thud. Silence at last.

Rin froze, expecting another exasperated comment from her mother (or even worse, the sound of the neighbour's window being shoved open to tell her to stop making such a ruckus so early in the morning), but the air was still. With a big sigh of relief, she scrambled off of her unmade sheets and padded over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and inspect the severity of her bedhead.

The sight that met her in the mirror made her want to scream. Of course, she knew better than to act on her impulse, especially after _that _ear-splitting catastrophe, but…a long section of hair clung to the back of her head, giving her the appearance of wearing a patchy brown skull-cap, while each side of her head reminded her of halves of a hedgehog. Sighing once more, Rin grabbed fistfuls of hair and attempted to smooth it behind her ears. Tufts of frizzy brown exploded from the ends of her fists.

'Mouse brown,' she thought unhappily, 'The worst kind of brown there is.'

Oh well. It would have been nice to look good on a mission for once...at least for the first day, anyway, until they would have to get their hands dirty. It was something her father never ceased to scold her about whenever he caught Rin fussing with her hair – _'Kunoichi don't have time to be worrying about how they look, for God's sake! You think nice hair is going to make the enemy think twice about attacking you? If only it were that easy to keep you safe, Rin!' –_ but all the same, she couldn't help it.

Because _he _would be there, and Rin would try anything, _anything at all _to get his attention. She was certain that she had never been more determined of any goal in her entire life.

"Rin!" Her mother yelled from the bottom of the stairs, shattering her thoughts (but not the mirror, unfortunately). "You have five minutes to get out the door if you don't want to be late!"

"I'm coming!" she replied, wincing at how her high voice reverberated off the close walls of her tiny bathroom.

With lightning speed, she brushed her teeth, splashed cold faucet water on her face, ran a brush through her wild hair and wrenched open the medicine cabinet. The roll of medical adhesive bandaging was selected from the second shelf and a section was carefully snipped off and applied to Rin's left cheek, effectively hiding the faint white scar that ran perpendicular to her eye. She inspected the right cheek in the mirror before deciding that the bandage she had applied the day before was still in fair enough condition and would not need replacing.

"Listen to your sensei, now, and work well with your teammates," Rin's father said to her as she bounded down the stairs and skidded to the hall closet to grab her shinobi-issued sandals.

"I know, dad; I _have _done missions before, you know," Rin replied shortly, shouldering her pack. It was extra-heavy today, because it contained two medi-kits instead of just the singular one that she used on all missions. She had wracked her brains for the perfect gift for _him, _and she knew this was it. It was neat, compact, and practical, just like his sentences_._

"'Bye," she said. "See you in a few days, probably."

She had one foot out the door when a hand on her wrist made her stop short.

"Rin!"

It was her mother. Rin rolled her eyes and was about to tell her that she didn't have time for any more lectures when a piece of toast was shoved into her open mouth. Rin could taste real butter and strawberry jam. "All shinobi need a healthy breakfast before an important mission," her mother said with a cheerful smile forced upon her face; "Do your best!"

"Ah…" Rin smiled despite herself and removed the toast from her mouth, though not before taking a satisfying bite. She knew, despite the constant friction between her and her parents, that they worried about her every time she left home. Life was so fleeting. No matter how cross she became with them, she never wanted to part on a bad word, just in case…just in case it was her last.

Not that she ever believed it would really come to that. But still, it never hurt to be precautious.

"Thanks, mom." Her smile went past her mother and reached her father as well. "Let's all do our best, okay?"

She took off running with one final backwards wave to her parents standing in the doorway. Her team was scheduled to meet in two minutes on their favoured training field. If she hurried, she could still make it in time.

Rin thought of _him_ and the disapproving frown he would give her if she was late, and willed her legs to go faster.

* * *

"Hey! Who said I needed to get you _anything_?"

Hatake Kakashi merely blinked his heavily-lidded amber eyes at his teammate expectantly. During his Academy days, Kakashi used to dream about the day that he would be recognized as a Jounin – in his mind, he would stand tall and attentive in front of Konoha's gates as the Hokage handed him his handwritten scroll. His father would look on proudly, and maybe even say something along the lines of, "That's my son."

Naturally, this was not at all how Kakashi's inauguration went in reality. No, he was standing in the middle of the training field with his eyebrows raised and one palm outstretched. The Hokage was nowhere to be seen, but this was to be expected; Konoha was in the middle of The Great Secret War, and village leaders could not afford to spare any of their precious time to acknowledge the advancement of a young shinobi. Times were hard, time was precious and dreams were a waste of time.

"Obito," Rin hissed, a little embarrassed, "It's tradition to give a Jounin a gift on his inauguration day, don't you know."

"That's right," Kakashi said plaintively. "Rin got me an emergency medical kit. What are _you _going to give me?"

"I didn't get you anything," Obito repeated, jutting out his lower lip and adjusting his black-rimmed goggles. "You don't deserve it. All you do is brag."

"Obito," Rin warned, but Kakashi dismissed his comment with a lazy wave of a gloved hand.

"It's alright, Rin. Obito wouldn't recognize something useful if he saw it, so it's better this way. Now I won't have to hurt his feelings by declaring it unnecessary for our upcoming mission and throwing it out."

Bright patches of red appeared on Obito's rounded face. "Kakashi, you cocky asswipe, I'm –"

"Enough!"

At the sharp command of their leader, one mouth ceased chatter and three heads ducked into shallow, sheepish bows, carefully avoiding the glare of their sensei's blue eyes. Once he was sure that he had their attention, Namikaze Minato released a pent-up sigh and ruffled his unruly blonde hair.

"Listen up and listen carefully now, because I'm not going to repeat myself. Earth Country has managed to invade Grass Country, which could be troublesome for us in the long-run because our borders run against theirs. To avoid a possible invasion of Fire Country, we need to nip this situation in the bud, and the quickest way to do this is by sabotage."

"Sabotage?" Obito asked.

"Yes, sabotage," Minato confirmed. "Our mission is to sneak behind Grass Country's front line of Rock ninjas and destroy the bridge that they use to bring over supplies, then withdraw quickly and quietly so that no one knows we were even there. Understand?"

"Yes, Minato-sensei," his three pupils replied dutifully.

"Good," Minato said. He turned away, signifying a temporary dismissal of his team, then thought better of it and called them back. "Oh, I suppose I ought to tell you…," he added, "Now that Kakashi has become a Jounin and Konoha's military power is hurting, we will have to be split up to spread our experienced shinobi around."

Obito blanched. "So you're not…coming with us?"

"Only for a small part of the journey," Minato replied. "I will be facing the Rock Nin directly, and serve as a distraction while you destroy the Kawabi Bridge so as to minimize your chance of being discovered."

The tall, blonde Jounin either didn't hear the grumblings of his youngest pupil or chose to ignore them, though his other two students were suspecting the latter; Minato's senses were unsurpassed.

"Well, come on then; we better get going. We'll be traveling for the rest of the day and make camp this evening in Grass Country. Hope you all had a good breakfast this morning. You'll need all the energy you can get."

Rin thoughts strayed to the solitary piece of toast that she had devoured on her way to the training field and her shoulders drooped. Suddenly, the thought of a decent morning meal seemed a lot more appealing than making it to the team briefing with tamed hair. She huffed, crossing her skinny arms in front of her chest.

"Something the matter, Rin?"

Obito's black eyes searched her face through the thick lenses of his go-goggles.

"Well, I –"

Minato-sensei took off without so much as a warning, and Rin felt the wind whip at her hair as Kakashi leapt forward, close on his heels.

"I…was just thinking about how excited I was to get going!" Rin said cheerfully, but her eyes had already left Obito's and were following Kakashi into the distance.

"If you say so," the black-haired boy replied doubtfully.

"Come on," Rin said, pulling on her teammate's sleeve in her sudden eagerness to go. "Let's leave already, Obito. I don't want to get left behind!"

* * *

_I am a tool in the belt of Konoha. Every day I get a little sharper, honing my skills; every hour I learn a little more, increasing my reaction time; every breath that I take, I take for this village. _

_This way of life was taught to me when I was old enough to understand its meaning and reiterated again and again when I was attending the Academy the year I turned six. This isn't special knowledge by any means. It is a command for the masses, and yet I feel sometimes like I am the only one following it._

_Take the shinobi I am to call my teammates, for example. When I was told that I was placed in a unit with an Uchiha Obito, it was the first little thrill of anticipation I'd felt since the death of my father. A boy gifted with the legendary Sharingan Bloodline Limit exclusive to the most famous clan in Konoha. The things I could learn from a person like that!_

_Of course, I should have known not to expect the expected after the strange twists and turns life had already taken me through. I had never been accustomed to working with others and much preferred to work alone, but I became accepting of the fact that I simply could not be accommodated in this way for my entire career. Konoha' s forces are nearly always organized into groups of three. I knew this, which is why, when Obito turned out to be nothing more than an over-spoilt, under-disciplined youth whose exaggerated claims of greatness couldn't compensate for his obvious weakness, I did not complain to our Jounin sensei Minato. I took it upon myself to lead by example. You see, Obito? This is what a shinobi should be like. This is how you do your job – by following the rules._

_I haven't much thought about Rin. Like Obito, she has failed to impress me, but I suppose this is to be expected of a kunoichi with no particular assets or background. Unlike Obito, however, she does her job, which is helpful enough in a cell of three people. If I can say nothing else about her, Rin has at least contributed to my knowledge of the effectiveness of teamwork. That is enough…_

…_But here she is, running at my side. I cannot help but give her a disapproving glance; she knows as well as I do that her stamina cannot compare to mine. What is she doing trying to keep up with me? She smiles despite my obvious displeasure at her foolishness, red in the face from exhaustion. It's a good thing that Minato-sensei is signalling for us to stop here; going at this pace any longer, she might have collapsed and forced us all to wait while she recuperates. A waste of time._

_I go to work at once setting up camp, unrolling Rin's sleeping bag first while Minato-sensei volunteers for first watch, Obito taking up second. Good. I will make sure she is the first one to rest._

* * *

"Do you not consider Kakashi your friend?" Minato said.

"I…I don't know," Obito confessed. The two of them sat atop a large boulder overlooking their camp site.

"I mean, the guy stalks around with a stick up his ass demanding, _'Respect me, respect me, look up to me,' _and nothing ever seems to be good enough for him – not me, or even Rin. How can you be friends with a person like _that?_"

Obito had thought that Minato would disapprove and chastise him for not trying harder to make amends, but his sensei only looked up at the moon, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yes, I thought you'd say that," he said. "But you must know something – the reason why Kakashi expects so much out of the people around him is because he was brought up by an exceptional father. With no one else around him but such an impressive role model, it has become hard for him to see that not everyone has ability like Konoha's White Wolf."

Obito could only stare in disbelief. "Konoha's White Wolf is Kakashi's father?"

"Was," Minato corrected. "I take it you know what happened to the White Wolf." Without waiting for an answer he continued, "When Konoha was dragged into the Great Secret War, they suffered heavy losses. The White Wolf was on an assassination mission that would determine which way the scales of favour would tip – it was Konoha's chance to gain an upper hand in the fighting, which is why they sent only the best to do the job.

"The Elders were confident. They had sent the White Wolf into enemy territory with an extremely well-devised plan, and were short of celebrating when he returned to the village. The enemy had learned of their intentions, he had said, and the situation became a disaster. The White Wolf had a split-second decision to make – the lives of his teammates, his greatest friends and long-time companions, or the success of the mission. He chose –"

"The lives of his companions, of course," Obito supplied.

Minato regarded him for a moment before answering, "That's right."

_Shinobi Rule #3: Secure the object of the mission above all else. _

"The White Wolf made the decision that he believed was for the best," Minato continued, "But he was punished for it. All of Konoha blamed him for the mission's failure; they attributed the losses they continued to accumulate from the war on him. Even the companions whose lives he saved couldn't find it in their hearts to be thankful when they were so bitter about the state of their country, and the village that had to suffer for it."

"He killed himself, didn't he?" Obito whispered. Some small part of him hoped Minato-sensei would contradict him, but he did not.

"Yes, Obito. The White Wolf committed hara-kiriin his own home."

_Ninjas who don't follow the rules and regulations are nothing but trash._

Obito had taken off the goggles and abandoned them on the smooth surface of the boulder. With his messy black hair cut brutally short for his squarish face, he looked very much like a child of eight rather than a young man of thirteen, especially when he looked up at Minato with his black eyes wide in wonder. It was a bare-all stare: the look of an innocent, and maybe that was the clincher, the sealing reason why he and Kakashi could never manage to get along for more than a few minutes. For all of Kakashi's skill, for all of his mental prowess and his physical strength, he would never have what Obito had managed to keep: his innocence.

"Now that you know this, will you try to be more understanding of Kakashi's harsh behavior?" Minato asked. "I'm not asking you to endure it silently, but I would like you to understand where he is coming from."

Obito snuck a look at Kakashi's blanketed form on the ground below the boulder. Sleep made the silver-haired boy look tame – his hair flopped over his forehead without his forehead protector to keep it in check and the black mask that he kept resolutely over half of his face had slipped a little, revealing just the tip of his strong, straight nose.

How many of those features had he inherited from the White Wolf? Obito wondered. How did it make him feel to look in the mirror and be reminded of his father more with each passing day?

"Yeah," he said quietly. "I'll try, sensei."


	3. Common Knowledge

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all of associated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi.

**ASHES  
Chapter III - Common Knowledge**

The sun shone bright and early on the morning everything went wrong, and despite the fact that Obito was about to embark on the most dangerous part of their mission he felt himself being lulled by the warmth of the day into a strange sort of optimism.

A little ways away beneath the shade of a tall tree, Rin knelt at Kakashi's back, her pack flipped open to expose the extraordinarily organized contents of her medi-kit. She bandaged minor scrapes and scratches, reapplying gauze and tape to the wound in his shoulder with cool, nimble fingers, smiling as she worked. Obito watched her for a while. Boys in their graduating Academy class used to say that Rin was "nothing special" to look at; they whispered "average" like it was some kind of disease, but it was probably because they had never seen her smile. It lit up her face, brightened the brown in her eyes, radiated sincerity. If that wasn't beauty, then Obito wasn't sure what was.

"The gash in your shoulder is pretty much healed now, but you've got to try not to overdo it or the wound will open again."

She placed the tips of her fingers gingerly against Kakashi's bare back, but…

"Alright," he said.

Kakashi dodged her touch, moving out of her reach in one fluid movement without even turning to look at her. Kakashi has seen Rin smile hundreds of times, Obito reasoned, he must have, for Rin tends to smile brightly and more frequently when he's around. Maybe he just didn't take the time to notice. He has the sharpest vision out of anyone, but he didn't really _see._

When all equipment was repacked and Kakashi was once more fully dressed, their sensei acknowledged them with a nod of his blonde head and took off without further remark. They had discussed their plans in detail before they left Konoha; to do so again would to be waste time.

Obito imagined the wind ruffling Minato-sensei's indigo kimono conveyed the words that hung unspoken between all of them – _good luck, get the mission done and hurry back safely - _but the thought was silly, and maybe that was why Kakashi was the squad's new commander instead of Obito.

"Should we get going…commander?"

Rin gave him an approving smile and Kakashi's amber eyes flickered over his begrudging teammate, like he wasn't sure he had heard him right. "Yes," he replied finally. "Let's go, and quickly. If we do this right we can meet up with sensei again by early evening."

As they tore off, heading inland, Uchiha Obito's heart was soaring with them. He had made a patchy reconcilement with Kakashi, earned a smile from Rin and was about to complete his first mission as full-fledged shinobi without Minato-sensei. If he could prove himself now, he could go home a decorated hero.

* * *

Obito looked at the blurry outline of Kakashi standing before him and swore under his breath, ripping the goggles from his eyes and rubbing them furiously against the material of his muddied pants. He pretended to mop the sweat from his brow by bringing his sleeved arm to his forehead, stealthily wiping away the tears that obscured his vision. Everything had gone wrong, so wrong, and the last thing he wanted was for the jerk to point out that he was crying, _again. _

_Shinobi Rule number twenty-five – a shinobi must never show his tears._

He waited for Kakashi's steely recitation from the Handbook to cut through him, cut him down again, but for once his teammate remained silent beside him save for the deep breaths he took to steady himself.

"Rin," Obito choked. "Rin."

'_Katon! Goukyakou no Jutsu!'_

_When Obito performed the Great Fireball Technique, for a split second I lost all thought of shinobi instinct and training to overwhelming surprise. True, the ability to manipulate the element of fire has always been the mark of an Uchiha, but…_

_I am always calling Obito a loser, using my sharpness and advantage of speed to point out his shortcomings in comparison to the elite clan of ninjas that he was born into. I've told him he was a failure so often that perhaps I convinced myself it was true. _

_They were too fast, our enemies, even for me. I could dodge them myself, match them speed for speed, but I couldn't keep them away from her. The man grabbed her by the scruff of her collar and knocked her unconscious, a large man with a flat, broad nose broken in several places. I've memorized his face, so if he gets in the way again I will kill him._

_He disappeared along with the rest of them, taking Rin with him, just as quickly as he descended upon us. Obito lunged, leaving himself completely open in his haste to save her but I yelled – no, _commanded_ him not to go after her. 'We will continue on this mission,' I insisted. After all, Rin was a Medic Nin, and shinobi capable of healing others are valuable commodity. So long as she agreed to treat the enemy's casualties, I am certain they would not harm her. I said this to Obito with an expression so blank and guarded that my father would have approved. I will make the decision that my father should have made all those years ago; I have learned from his death and won't make the same mistake he did._

_Obito doesn't get it, but how could I expect him to? He still hasn't figured out how to be as guarded as I am, and I can tell immediately from the look on his face that he wants to go ahead and do something rash that will sabotage our mission. Even now, he stares me down and his words hang unspoken in the thick air around us, as loud as if he had just yelled them in my ear: just who are you trying to convince?_

"Does her life mean that little to you?" Obito's hands clenched into fists at his side. He had watched Kakashi steady himself for the past three minutes, looking for chinks his armour, _anything _that would show him just how rattled he was, but Kakashi's exterior remained as calm and collected as ever. Obito tried again, a little more desperately. "What about all the times she saved your life_? Our _lives? Do you think you'd be alive and on this mission today if Rin hadn't been at your side countless times before?"

Kakashi's voice was as blank as his face. "Rin is a Medic-Nin, Obito. Healing us is her duty."

_SMACK. _

The sound of Obito's fist connecting with Kakashi's sharp jaw line was loud enough that any enemy shinobi in the surrounding area would be alerted of their presence. If only it were that simple. The men who stole Rin were far away by now, and had no intention of turning back.

"You know what? I can't _stand _you!" Obito nearly screamed, shaking with frustration. Kakashi's face had been jerked sideways by the impact of his punch, and he turned his head slowly to face his teammate again. Obito nearly paled; he had never before hit a comrade and fully expected the wrath of the Jounin to be unleashed upon him, but Kakashi's face was static, stony-hard and unmoving.

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm still your leader, you know," he said slowly, ignoring the pain that shot up one side of his face as he moved his mouth. "You're weak – your heart, your mind, your strength, all weak. If you care at all about completing this mission, you'll obey my instructions like you're supposed to."

"You think this is about some kind of power struggle?" Obito grit his teeth, incensed. "You think I _care _you're a better ninja than me? I know it, and that's why _you've _got to save Rin! You've got to save her…" he trailed off, looking down, "You've got to save her because I can't."

"Tch." Kakashi arched an eyebrow. "A shinobi's got to kill his own emotions, it's one of the rules we learned at the Academy. When you let them run wild like that, you jeopardize your mission, just like you're doing now."

A long silence stretched between them as they glared at each other. Each boy had their feet planted firmly on the ground, their shoulders tensed and their stances squared. The Kawabi Bridge was perhaps an hour north, while Rin's kidnappers had taken off south. Obito took a deep breath, and appealed to Kakashi once more.

"A charm…there was a medical charm sewed into the medical pack that Rin gave to you as a gift for your Jounin inauguration."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Shaped like a paper lantern; I saw her making it while we were sparring on the Training Grounds," Obito shot back, pointing at Kakashi's pack. Indeed, there was a small, ball-shaped charm tied to the strap not much bigger than the buckle of a sandal. "If you deem emotions to be so unnecessary that they're nothing but 'excess luggage' like everything else that doesn't have to do with your current mission, why is it still with you?"

Kakashi managed a small frown. "…Rin gave me the medical pack to increase the success of this mission. That's what a medical pack is _for,_ idiot. Shinobis are tools, and emotions are unnecessary things to a tool."

For several moments, Obito could do nothing more than stare at him, open-mouthed, and the silence that fell between them this time was a lot thicker. It was harder to breathe.

"Are you…are you serious? Do you really think that way?"

_He cannot believe it. _I_almost do not believe it, but I know that to believe anything otherwise is as good as signing your own death warrant. My face is still, even as Obito's becomes more and more desperate, panicked. This surely scares him more than any exhibition of physical superiority that I have proved to him over the years that we have worked unsteadily together. He beseeches me as a friend, placing a hand on my shoulder. I can't look at his pleading face anymore; I avert my eyes, sweep them over the mulchy undergrowth beneath our feet. _

"Yes,"_ I affirm quietly, _"That's right."

_The hand falls from my shoulder like rocks over a cliff, and for the first time in my memory, his expression became as stony as mine. Obito does not raise his voice, he does not shed a tear. A piece of his innocence has died away, and I am responsible for killing it. _

"Fine then,"_ he says. _"From the very beginning, you and I were like water and oil. I accept that, but I will not accept your phony beliefs. I'm going to rescue Rin."

_He shoves me away and turns hard on his heel, walking in the opposite direction from the bridge, our true destination. An unruly anger takes hold of me then, and I cannot help myself from hissing at his back, _"You don't understand anything! What happens to those who do not follow the rules, they –"

"The White Wolf, now he was a true hero,"_ Obito interrupts without looking back at me. _

_I freeze, and my heart trips over itself. I imagine it biting the dust, spilling out of my chest and falling into the mud. I have nothing to say; the only thought in my mind is the question of whether or not my heart was still beating. Why should it, when I had done it to it what I had done to Obito's innocence?_

"You say that shinobi who break the rules laid out for them are no better than trash, but you know what? Those who don't care about the lives of their friends are even worse than trash. If that's truly what it means to be a shinobi, then I'd rather break the rules!"

_My shoulder hurts…Rin had said not to overdo it or the wounds would open. _

* * *

The last Kakashi had seen of Obito was his back, but it was his words that would not leave his thoughts. Every once and awhile, as Kakashi continued on his way, his sensei's solemn face would replace Obito's expression of disbelief. There was an unmistakeable look of disdain upon it and…was that disappointment?

_Rin…_

Furrowing his brow, Kakashi stuck his left arm out and grabbed a hold of the next tree branch that struck his open hand, whipping his body around to face the opposite direction.


End file.
